The Beat: Franklin's Constantine living a baseball life in Pecos League

Comment

By Tim Whelan Jr.Daily News staff

Wicked Local

By Tim Whelan Jr.Daily News staff

Posted Jun. 22, 2014 at 10:03 PM
Updated Jun 23, 2014 at 6:05 PM

By Tim Whelan Jr.Daily News staff

Posted Jun. 22, 2014 at 10:03 PM
Updated Jun 23, 2014 at 6:05 PM

» Social News

When Chris Constantine wakes up and looks out the window, he can see clear to Mexico.

This is but one of the daily reminders that he is a long way from Franklin, where he graduated from high school in 2008. Or North Carolina, for that matter, where he is an assistant coach at Winston-Salem State University while working on his MBA. For now, Constantine's home is a Best Western in Douglas, Arizona, where the Douglas Diablos of the Pecos League ply their wares.

"It's an experience out here, man," Constantine said with a chuckle on Friday from Alpine, Texas, where he and the Diablos were playing the Alpine Cowboys later that night. It was one of a 70-games-in-72-days stretch for the Diablos.

For the second straight year, Constantine has taken his talents to the southwest to play in one of eight independent professional baseball leagues in North America. Founded in 2010, the Pecos League is headquartered in Houston but operates far from the big metropolises, with 10 teams scattered across the desert mountain regions of New Mexico, Arizona, Southern Colorado and West Texas.

Think baseball in "Breaking Bad" country.

"It's like Smalltown, USA," the 24-year-old Constantine said of Alpine, but it is a description that could likely apply to any of the league's haunts. "We just got back from four games in Roswell, New Mexico. It was like going back in time."

In Roswell, home of the Pecos League's Invaders, the team name is but one of the reminders of the 1947 crash that some believed to be a UFO.

"There are people wearing alien masks at the games there," Constantine said.

After his playing days at St. Andrew's College (NC), Constantine had a year of eligibility left and took the field for Winston-Salem State as he began pursuit of his MBA in 2013. He helped the team go 39-13 and win its conference. Constantine drew some interest from scouts with major league teams, but nothing stuck. When affiliated professional baseball didn't pan out, a scout referred Constantine to Taos, New Mexico, home of the Pecos League's Blizzard, a new team in 2013.

In Taos, he lived in a house with — wait for it — 30 guys, with "two or three kitchens."

"I'd compare that house to one of the nicer houses in Franklin," Constantine said.

While playing in 17 games for the Blizzards, his highlight of his first season came when his father, Jim, happened to be visiting from Franklin. Chris wasn't in the starting lineup that day, so he was coaching first base. When the Blizzard's third baseman turned his wrist over, the manager called for Constantine to finish the at-bat with an 0-2 count. He sprinted across the field, grabbed a bat, and as his father told it "frantically began to stretch and swing to loosen up."

Page 2 of 3 - After stepping into the box, on the first pitch that comes in, Chris connects for a homerun over the centerfield fence to tie the game. It's his first and only professional home run.

"That was pretty crazy," Constantine recalled.

A Diablos coach who witnessed the home run asked Constantine to come to Arizona this year, after the WSSU season was done.

Fast forward to last week with the Diablos, when Constantine's manager was thrown out of the game and then subsequently suspended for a game. And the third-base coach was away tending to a family matter. So who stepped in as active manager? That would be Constantine.

"They asked me to do it because I have college coaching experience," Constantine said. While he normally coaches third base at WSSU, Friday was his first pro experience coaching third base.

Such is life in the Pecos League, where you can be playing outfield one minute and coaching the next. The league has already gotten the national spotlight in a six-episode series aptly named "The Pecos League" on Fox Sports One, which can be found On Demand. The league follows the hijinks of the lone Colorado team, the Trinidad Triggers.

In one of the first scenes, a Triggers player shows a $50 check, and calculates that he is making in the $1.70—an-hour range. While 50 a week may be the going rate, Constantine said it varies.

"It can go anywhere from $400 to $600 a month," he said. "There really aren't that many expenses, though. And I know Trinidad, they weren't raising as much money, so they had to cut the paychecks down a bit. It happens."

Whatever might be lacking in facilities or salary, the baseball is still worthy of the professional label.

"It's definitely a couple steps up from college ball," said Constantine, whose sister, Andrea, attends Elon (NC) University. "We have a bunch of guys on this team that have played affiliated ball — our centerfielder got to Double-A, our left fielder was drafted as well."

Constantine's teammates are a varied bunch, hailing from many walks of the transcontinental baseball landscape.

Malquiel Brito, for instance, was in the San Diego Padres' system prior to joining the Diablos. He is hitting .328 with three homers and 28 RBIs through 38 games. Diablos infielder Jean Batista, who is from the Dominican Republic, was one of the main subjects of the 2012 documentary "Ballplayer: Pelotero," which followed he and Miguel Angel Sano as they tried to get signed. Batista signed with the Astros for $500,000 guaranteed in 2011, bouncing through their system for three years before ending up in the Pecos League.

The Diablos also have a Japanese second baseman, Yuki Yasuda, who played for Las Cruces in 2012 before playing semi-pro ball in Wisconsin last year.

Page 3 of 3 - "I definitely haven't played with guys from this many backgrounds at this level before," Constantine said. He added with a chuckle, "It's not like Franklin."

The ballparks are relics to the days of minor league past, "a little rundown" as Constantine described them. But it doesn't take away from the passion in some of the small towns, where the Pecos League is among the premier entertainment options.

While the Pecos League on first glance is right out of the first scene of "Major League," when the Indians search baseball outposts for players, independent baseball has produced success stories that aren't far from Constantine's mind.

"There are guys that give you hope," Constantine said. "Daniel Nava was cut by his college team, played independent ball, and then was signed by the Red Sox for a dollar. Chris Colabello's another great one."

Milford's Colabello, of course, recently played in the big leagues with the Twins after many years with the Can-Am League's Worcester Tornadoes. The young Pecos League is yet to produce a big leaguer.

With that in mind, Constantine is considering his next move, as he has just one semester remaining on the MBA he is getting online through East Carolina University.

"I've been thinking about what's next more and more," said Constantine, who said he would soon be staying with a host family in Douglas with three or four other players. "I'm just staying on track with the MBA, and I'd like to go into coaching. Or entering the real world."

For now, Constantine's real world involves 11-hour work days, short walks to the park, and road trips wrought with anecdotes.

Asked his favorite experience yet, he laughed and said, "There's something different every day."

However it plays out on the diamond, he'll have some stories to tell.

Tim Whelan Jr. can be reached at 508-626-4402 or twhelan@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @thattimwhelan.